Scottish Executive

Access for People with Disabilities

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes it is considering to ensure that a disability audit is undertaken for all new buildings, and those undergoing change of use, prior to planning permission being granted.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Currently all new building work, including alterations and extensions, which is covered by the building regulations, must comply with the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990. Access for disabled people to, and throughout, a building is an integral part of these requirements.

  My officials will consider the scope for disability audits as we take forward work on modernising the planning system.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made for free central heating installations under its central heating programme; how many applications have been approved, and how many installations have been carried out to date, broken down into local authority, housing association and private sector programmes.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  In the private sector Eaga Partnership have received 24,799 qualifying applications up until November 2003. Of those 19,500 have been assessed as eligible and 15,274 central heating systems have been installed.

  In the public sector local authorities have installed 9,702 systems and housing associations have installed 2,938. In 2003-04 local authorities received approval to install 3,510 systems and housing associations 3,870.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the eligibility criteria for its central heating programme in order to enable greater uptake by the end of 2005.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The programme is kept under constant review. In the private sector, the central heating programme will be expanded to include the over 80s with partial or inefficient systems from April 2004.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-987 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 30 June 2003, how many private sector central heating installations have been completed since 31 May 2003 and how many installations are in the process of completion.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Since 31 May 2003 4,953 installations have been completed. In the private sector Eaga Partnership will complete around 10,200 installations in 2003-04.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association households have had central heating installed under its central heating programme to date and how many installations are in the process of completion.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  As at October 2003, local authorities had installed 9,702 systems and housing associations had installed 2,938. In 2003-04 local authorities will install 3,510 systems and housing associations 3,870.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive what research evidence on fuel poverty it used to inform its eligibility criteria for its central heating programme.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The Executive used information from the Scottish House Condition Survey 1996 to inform the eligibility criteria for the central heating programme.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3162 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 22 October 2003, what further measures Communities Scotland is considering for scrutinising the effectiveness of the delivery of the central heating programme

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Communities Scotland keeps the effectiveness of the programme under constant review and is currently considering the introduction of an independent inspection of installation work carried out under the central heating programme.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3164 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 22 October 2003, whether it will provide details of the concerns received about the specifics of eligibility for assistance and about detailed aspects of the implementation of the central heating programme.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The central heating programme is a major programme of work and, from time to time, concerns are received about various aspects of eligibility set out in Scottish Statutory Instrument 2001 No 267. Similarly, those with an interest also raise issues around the various aspects of implementation of the programme.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent during the central heating programme on (a) printing, publishing and distributing all information materials, (b) advertising and promotion and (c) administration and whether these expenses were included in the original figure of £350 million identified for delivery of the programme.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The administration, advertising and promotional activity surrounding the central heating programme, including all other auxiliary activities, is included in the management fees paid to Eaga Partnership and was included in the original cost estimates. Similarly, in the public sector local authorities and housing associations are responsible for the administration of the programme.

Central Heating Programme

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any underspend of the total amount budgeted across the three sectors of its central heating programme since its inception and, if so, how much such underspend is.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The resources allocated to the programme for 2001-02 and 2002-03 have been spent on the central heating programme and other energy efficiency measures. There was an underspend of £4 million in 2001-02; however, this was carried forward into the programme for 2002-03 in line with normal end year flexibility practice."

Fire Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations took place, and when, with stakeholders with regard to the appointment and remit of the control room study of the Scottish Fire Service by Mott MacDonald Communication and Controls Division; who was consulted, and whether any changes were made to the remit of the study as a result of such consultations.

Hugh Henry: The consultation paper The Scottish Fire Service of the Future , which was published in April 2002, expressed an intention to review control room arrangements in Scotland. Responses by stakeholder interests during that consultation process were reflected in the remit issued to Mott MacDonald. Members of the Scottish Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council (SCFBAC) were advised in a letter dated 16 October 2003 of the terms of reference and reporting timescales of the study. The study was also referred to during a meeting of the SCFBAC on 30 October. Stakeholders with a particular interest, including the Fire Brigades Union and the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association, subsequently participated in the study.

Social Inclusion

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the membership and remit of the Cabinet Delivery Group on Closing the Opportunity Gap will be and whether it will take external advice.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Cabinet Delivery Group on Closing the Opportunity Gap is composed of the following ministers and deputy ministers:

  Minister for Communities (Chair)

  Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Deputy Chair)

  Minister for Health and Community Care

  Deputy Minister for Communities

  Deputy Minister for Education and Young People

  Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning

  Deputy Minister for Justice

  First Minister (ex officio)

  Deputy First Minister (ex officio)

  The delivery group has a remit:

  To scope a work programme to ensure that the Executive's commitments on closing the opportunity gap, particularly as set out in the partnership agreement, are met; to set objectives and targets for the work programme; to commission an official to take the work programme forward, drawing on a team from across the Executive; and to report annually to cabinet.

  The delivery group has appointed external members Gill Scott, Director of the Scottish Poverty Information Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, and David Nicoll, Chief Executive of the Wise Group, an innovative organisation based in Glasgow, and operating throughout Scotland and the North of England, that assists unemployed people back into work.

Traffic

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the traffic implications are for Edinburgh of any expansion of retail sites at Straiton and what its position is on any such expansion.

Nicol Stephen: Any development proposals which did come forward would be assessed by the Executive on the basis of their trunk road impact.

  Midlothian Council are currently in the process of undertaking a multi modal corridor study of the A701. The objective of this study is to assess what options may be available to encourage alternative modes of travel, other than the private car, within this corridor. If implemented, any recommendations would be taken into consideration in the Executive's assessment of the traffic implications of any such future development.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Annual Accounts

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) will make a detailed response to the report by the Auditor General, The 2002-03 Audit of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), (SE/2003/346) and, in particular, (a) when the report was made public and by what means, (b) whether the SPCB will give details of the 290 items that were unreconciled which totalled some £5.3 million, (c) why properly authorised standing financial instructions set by the Principal Accountable Officer in agreement with the SPCB and its Advisory Audit Board are not yet in place, (d) why staff below Head of Finance level were able to write off debts and, if this practice has now been altered, whether a review of such debts has been, or will be, undertaken and whether the SPCB is satisfied that such debts should have been written off and (e) why the cash balance as at 31 March 2003 was £20 million and whether any financial loss either to the Parliament or to the Scottish Consolidated Fund may have arisen as a result of premature draw down of funds from the consolidated fund.

Robert Brown (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): The Principal Accountable Officer will make a detailed response to the report by the Auditor General when he gives evidence to the Audit Committee.

  In respect of the particular questions you raise:

  (a) The SPCB received the report from the Auditor General on Friday 19 December 2003 and delivered it to Scottish ministers on the same day. The report was formally laid before Parliament by Scottish ministers on the next working day, Monday 22 December 2003, together with the SPCB's 2002-03 Accounts. Both documents were published on the Parliament's website on 23 December 2003.

  (b) The Principal Accountable Officer will report to the Audit Committee on the progress by then in clearing the reconciling items that had not been fully resolved at the time of the audit.

  (c) As Audit Scotland reported in its evidence to the Audit Committee on 6 January 2004 (Official Report, col. 266), the SPCB is a young and evolving organisation. Although it does not currently have a full set of formally approved standing financial instructions, it has various procedures that it inherited from previous arrangements and has also adopted various new procedures to meet the changes arising from new finance systems and other developments. As reported by the Auditor General to the Audit Committee, the SPCB is currently preparing a set of financial instructions for implementation in March 2004.

  (d) Procedures for authorisation of losses, special payments and write offs have been in place since May 2000 and are based on the Scottish Public Finance Manual. These procedures specified that all such entries should be approved by the Finance Office, but did not specify particular levels. As reported by the Auditor General to the Audit Committee, we are reviewing these levels as part of the development of formally approved standing financial instructions. In practice, all significant entries covered by this procedure in 2002-03 were authorised at Head of Finance level. Most are simply the result of a financial housekeeping exercise to clear out unsubstantiated accounting entries from 2001-02 and prior years. The net impact of these entries was a credit of £30,000 and all the entries have been audited by Audit Scotland. The SPCB has now instructed that no such write offs take place without its authority.

  (e) The cash balance as at 31 March 2003 of £20 million arose as a result of the draw down of cash from Treasury on 1 March 2003 to meet the forecast expenditure on the Holyrood project. Forecasts for the monthly drawdown of cash require to be prepared some two months beforehand and, in the event, some of the money was not required until April. No financial loss arose to any party as a result of this as the funds remain within the Office of the Paymaster General until they are actually spent. Cash balances since March have been much reduced.